


Connie Swap Episode 3: Force Field Friends

by br42, BurdenKing, MjStudioArts



Series: Connieswap [3]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Art, Fight Scenes, Friendship, Gen, Momswap, Monster of the Week, Pictures, Slice of Life, Steven Universe AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-02
Updated: 2017-03-18
Packaged: 2018-09-27 19:52:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 17,307
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10043504
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/br42/pseuds/br42, https://archiveofourown.org/users/BurdenKing/pseuds/BurdenKing, https://archiveofourown.org/users/MjStudioArts/pseuds/MjStudioArts
Summary: It’s a little tense at home after the mission at the Lunar Sea Spire, so Connie decides to seek shelter at the Big Donut for an afternoon. However, Steven, a new resident of Beach City, is at the donut shop as well and the two have a very eventful day together.





	1. Prologue

It was quiet in the Beach House, but Connie certainly didn’t find it peaceful. Quite the opposite, if anything. No one had exited the temple in hours: not Peridot looking for yet another roll of duct tape, not Jasper setting out to warp somewhere and go on patrol, not even Lapis to rummage for snacks in the kitchen.

A big, tan book was open in Connie’s lap, lit by the little reading lamp on her nightstand, the large pearl embedded in the front cover pressing against the girl’s leg. She rubbed her eyes --she’d taken off her glasses a while back as though to tempt Peridot out, even if only to chide her-- then looked down and realized she’d reread the same paragraph for the fourth time.

Connie sighed, rested her elbows on the open pages of the book, and laid her face in her hands. “I thought it’d be better with Lapis back but it’s not,” Connie said, to her book as much as to anyone, “It’s just a different kind of weird now. She was gone for, like, two weeks and then she just walks in acting like nothing happened.”

Connie took a quick breath, still facedown in her hands, her fingers working into the roots of her hair as though to give herself scalp a massage. “And Jasper and Peridot have been walking on eggshells and dad won’t be able to visit for a few more weeks and he never really understands when we talk about gem stuff anyway and no one seems to acknowledge how I- I- how I _failed_ the mission at the Lunar Sea Spire.”

Silence and a dull throb near her temples were the only responses Connie got; at some point during her rant, her ‘massage’ had turned into two tight grips of thick, dark hair.

Suddenly tired, Connie flopped backward into her bed, reached up, and switched off the lamp. She pulled her legs up and then under the covers, her book sliding off her feet and onto the floor at the foot of her bed, still open.

Connie pulled the blankets up to her chin and rolled onto her side, facing the Spirit Morph Saga poster next to the window, and released a long, deep sigh. “I just feel so isolated. Lonely... so much so that I’m talking to a book. Ugh. Well, good night, book.”

Time passed, Connie’s breathing slowed, became regular, and before long she was asleep. Unnoticed by anyone, the text in her book shifted and a new paragraph appeared in the page Connie had been too distracted to finish:

> _Tired from so harsh a journey, the hero slumped into her bedroll and slept, her lone companion holding vigil during the night. With only the stars as witness, the companion draped their cloak over her slumbering form, and gently stroked the hair atop the hero’s head until the worry lines on her brow grew faint. An untroubled sleep found her at last._  
>    
>  _Content, the companion spared a small smile, then returned to their station to await the next day and the next adventure._  
> 


	2. The Following Day

“No… No, ugh! Where is it?” Connie grumbled, digging through a pile of her laundry. There was a faint tremble through the Beach House, but the tremors had been happening off and on for hours and Connie had at this point pretty much ceased noticing them. More digging and noises of frustration came before Connie gave an exasperated sigh and flopped into the pile of rejected clothing and footwear. 

The temple door opened and Peridot emerged, muttering under her breath. Raising her head up, Connie saw the gem stride into the room, a green bubble containing a number of gem fragments hovering just above Peridot’s right hand.

Connie climbed out of the heap and waved when the guardian turned in her direction. “Hey Peridot. Have you seen my left, coral-colored sneaker?”

“Negative. Why do you need it? There are plenty of articles of attire in that...pile…” she said, clearly distracted by the offensive display of disorder behind Connie.

Connie shrugged, acting nonchalant to downplay the mess she had made. “I have a plan for how I want to dress today, and those shoes are a key part of it.”

“Very well. Did you try-” Peridot began and was preempted by Connie.  
“Yeah, that was the first place I looked.”  
“Hmm, how about-”  
“I checked there.”  
“Okay, but did you think to-”  
“Twice!”  
“Well I doubt your appearance modifier simply walked away on its own. Regardless, I have a more pressing matter than wayward shirts.”  
“Sneakers.”  
“Whatever. Come here Connie, and listen carefully.”

Peridot struck a pedagogical pose while gesturing with her right hand to the bubbled gem fragments. “These shards have a powerful partial consciousness that has been harnessed by gems throughout history in order to create semi-sentient drone soldiers with the capacity to follow basic orders. Gems once created an army of these drones, but found their obedience waned as the shards overdeveloped inside their uniforms and turned on their commanders. You see, any shard imprinted by any sort of container could become a monster. That’s why it’s very, very important they’re kept away from any kind of shirt.” 

Lecture concluded, Peridot gave Connie an expectant look. “Have you seen any shards, or any shirts acting unusually?” 

“I certainly haven’t seen any shards. But if I-” Connie stopped as she saw her missing shoe walking past the warp pad behind Peridot. _Can a single shoe walk?_ a corner of her mind wondered, _or is it hopping? It’d be like trying to wink with one eye._ Regardless of nomenclature, the shoe was acting true to its name and trying to sneak past.

“THAT’S UNUSUAL!” Connie blurted out, pointing. A brief chase and tussle ensued, which ended abruptly once a gem shard was removed from the sneaker.

Peridot moved the shard into the bubble alongside the six floating within. “Well, that’s one article of insubordinate footwear dealt with. I shudder to think what it could have become in a more capable vessel; certainly it’d be something unsuitable for impressionable young humans to see, much less interact with,” she said, pausing and looking past Connie for some reason.

Finding her focus once more, Peridot added, “There is still one more shard missing, so be on the lookout. I’ll be searching this dwelling for a while longer before I resort to checking the town.”

Connie replied with a prompt ‘yes ma’am’ while she finished assembling her outfit and loading up her pack. _I’m going to grab a comfortable old read and get out of the house_ , Connie had thought when she got up that morning. _Listening to Lars and Sadie bicker while reading_ Unfamiliar Familiar _is better than being at home waiting for everyone to stop being weird. At least at the Big Donut I don’t have to worry about someone losing their cool and running away in a panic._

* * *

Connie was humming an old tune when she entered the Big Donut. Sadie looked up from the counter and waved while Lars, sitting on a stool with his feet propped up on the display case, spared her a perfunctory glance before turning back to his phone. The song from Connie’s childhood died in her throat and Sadie’s greeting was ignored as Connie froze, the girl focused instead on the figure in pink over by the drink station.

He was brunette; thick, unruly curls were pulled back, exploding from a pink hair tie in an approximation of a ponytail; taller than her though not by too much; perhaps a year or two older if Connie had to guess; wearing a pink, collared overshirt over a black tee that Connie couldn’t see the front of from her angle; fiddling with something over by the packets of cream and sugar.

Startled, Connie quietly placed her book on a nearby table and set her backpack down. _Does he drink coffee?_ she thought. _He might; he looks awfully mature. It’s not tourist season so I wonder what he’s doing here._

Connie looked to Sadie for answers but received only a friendly smile from the humble cashier. Connie smiled back shyly, unknowingly bringing one hand up to touch her gem, before making her way over to the stranger. For some reason, her cheeks felt all the sudden warm.

She leaned away and to the side of Mystery Boy, viewing him in profile. At the moment he was reading the packaging on a bag of snacks and holding what looked to be some sort of energy drink. _I mean, for all he knows I drink coffee all the time,_ Connie reasoned to herself. _Nothing unusual happening here at all,_ she added.

Attempting a cool-yet-bored expression, Connie casually reached for a styrofoam cup with one hand while the other hand, desperate for somewhere to put itself, gripped one of the straps of her overalls. A sudden jolt sent multiple cups flying, which a visibly surprised Connie scrambled and failed to catch, her arms crossing as she flailed.

Connie froze in embarrassment as the clatter died down, expecting laughter or a surprised stare from her left, but the boy hadn’t so much as looked up from his snack bag. Straightening up, Connie brushed some hair behind an ear and cleared her throat. “Uh, s-so anyways. I don’t think we’ve met. Are you new around here?”

Connie’s hands moved to tighten around her overall straps, her expectant pause met only with silence. “I-I mean, you might not be new here but I haven’t seen you before, but then again I don’t really come-to-town-all-that-oftenunlessLapisneedssnacks,” Connie said, her speech growing ever more rapid as she went on. Slightly winded, Connie sucked in a breath and continued. “So, uh, my name’s Connie. W-what’s you-orz-uh?!”

There was another jolt, stronger this time, and Connie lurched forward, badly jostling the counter, confusion plain across her face. That caused the boy to look up, perplexed, then over to Connie, who only managed to stammer out a shaky ‘hello’ before being dragged backwards across the store by some unseen force.

Sadie let out a gasp as she watched Connie smack into a freezer, then be hauled towards the front of the store. Connie’s hands were outstretched and grasping wildly as she tried to stop herself, cups and lids near the soda machine sent flying. A moment later Connie crashed into the window near the entrance with a heavy, resounding thud.

Connie groaned, a sharp pain radiating from the right side of her lower back in conjunction with the aches of a dozen minor scrapes and bruises. There were still small jerks and twitches coming unbidden from her overalls, but nothing coherent enough to propel her anywhere. On instinct, Connie reached back to feel the site of the hurt and noticed a hard lump in one of her back pockets.

Her hair was in disarray, her glasses were low on her nose, askew, but her eyes widened in sudden understanding. Connie seized the delinquent gem shard, whipped it around in front of her, gripped it both hands, and gave a loud “Ahah!” in triumph.

Silence, save for the thunk of something falling off a shelf. Three pairs of eyes stared in surprise at Connie.

Connie made a strangled noise, a dozen frantic explanations caught in her throat, and the desire to escape suddenly became overwhelming. Scrambling to her feet, Connie grabbed her nearby pack and barreled through the entrance, the door chiming as she fled. Embarrassment welled up inside her, tears forming in her eyes as she raced for home, the image of Mystery Boy’s confused and concerned stare burned into her mind.

A moment later the boy in pink set his drink and snack down on the counter, then fiddled with the small device he had in either ear. Sound returned in a rush and he caught the tail end of a dry chuckle from Lars.

“Did I miss something?” he asked, turning towards the two clerks. Sadie gave the boy a slow shake of her head.

“Yeah, you kind of missed a lot, Steven.”

* * *

“Ugh, so stupid!”, Connie ranted, her sprint devolving to a jog and then to a brisk walk as she rounded the bend, the temple and Beach House coming into view. “Stupid gem shard!” she snarled, clenching the object in her right hand. “Stupid overalls!” she added, wiping her eyes with the palm of her free hand and wiping her nose on a sleeve.

“And most of all, Stupid Connie! Lapis will have to make her own snack runs from now on because I can never go back to the Big Donut ever again,” she swore, stomping up the steps towards the porch. 

Face flushed with embarrassment, she quickly walked through then slammed shut the doors to the house. Huffing and puffing, she leaned into the now-shut door, sliding down to the floor, hair tumbling over her shoulders and into her face. “Uuuugh!”

Peridot, bubbled shards still floating over her upraised hand, was talking to a bored-looking Lapis and a stoic-as-usual Jasper when Connie entered the room dramatically. “-increasingly unlikely that they’re naturally occurr-uuh Connie? Are you well?”

Without getting up or even parting the hair from her face, Connie thrust out her right hand. “Found your gem shard,” she deadpanned and, after a pause added, “ma’am.”

Peridot rushed over, extracting the shard from her ward’s grip, sliding it into the bubble, then helping Connie to her feet. “Were you harmed retrieving it? Do you need medical attention? On a scale of one to ten, could you rate any pain or discomfort you’re experiencing?”

Connie stared into the middle-distance for a few seconds before giving a graceless thumbs up. Then she marched up the steps to her loft, snatched up the large book at the foot of her bed, sat down on the mattress, and pulled the blanket over her head entirely.

With Connie thusly ensconced, Peridot stood in awkward stillness for a moment before addressing the blanket sitting upright, “I’ll take your upraised digit as a ‘one’ on the pain scale. As such, I, uh, commend you for resolving this breach and will labor to ensure this is unlikely to occur again.” Peridot passed the bubble over to Jasper, who nodded and walked purposefully off to the burning room. 

The Green gem paused, frowning up at the blanketed figure, then sighed, turned to Lapis, and spoke in a quiet voice. “I know this may not be the… optimal time for you after, erm, recent events but the nature of your rapport with Connie may be more conducive-”

Lapis cut Peridot off with a shooing motion. “You go take care of our temple, I’ll take care of our girl.”

Peridot smiled, small but reaching up to her eyes, before turning to leave. The Green gem approached the temple door, now open to her room, and paused briefly at the threshold to call up schematics for her shard-proofing measures. 

To Lapis, those looked suspiciously similar to the baby-proofing Peridot had done around the temple more than a decade ago. In fact, Lapis could see a baby gate still installed along the main approach to Peridot’s workbench. Beyond that she saw the familiar mess of hoarded appliances, industrial cast-offs in various states of disassembly, and… 

Peridot disappeared into her room, the temple door closing in her wake, and Lapis was left with a wistful smile on her face. It turns out the surly technician still had some of their old meep-morps.

A muted sniffle brought Lapis to attention. _Right. Past later, present now,_ she chided herself as she flew up to the loft on conjured wings of water, landing softly beside the bed. “I swear I saw a girl headed up this way who was in need of Lapis Smiles. Have you seen her? I think her name was Connie.”

The blanket sagged a little and replied in a sad monotone, “Connie’s not here. She’s in Blanketville.”

“Is she going to come out of Blanketville?”

The blanket shook its head and gave a plaintive ‘nuh-uh’. 

“I see. Then I am formally requesting admittance to Blanketville to complete an official Lapis Lazu-livery of hugs.” There was a pause and then the edge of the blanket was raised slightly in invitation.

Lapis crouched down and ducked under the covers, seeing the dim outline of Connie, her storybook clutched to her chest and her knees drawn up. Lapis didn’t need hydrokinetic powers to know there were tears on those cheeks, which she gently brushed away while making a consoling ‘there there’.

“This is about something more than that shard, isn’t it?”

“M-maybe.”

“Do you want to tell me about it?”

Silence followed by a ‘no’ almost too soft to hear.

“That’s alright. I’m here for you regardless. Lapis Hugs, as promised; come ‘ere, you.”

Connie answered by leaning into Lapis, allowing herself to be encircled by blue arms. Tears and lamentations poured forth, snatches about spires and donuts drifting up as the rest was lost in the embrace. Lapis’ hydrokinesis was something of a blunt instrument, clumsy at manipulating tiny tears off little, brown eyes, so Lapis let her shirt take the brunt of it. 

_It’s hard coming back,_ Lapis thought as she patted Connie’s back, _being surrounded by reminders of better times, being desired, being tempted, being fettered._ The flow of grief from Connie seemed to taper off slightly, and so Lapis simply held her. Well, held her and thought. _But I’m also needed, and for at least one beautiful little being, that need is sweet and uncomplicated and wholly sincere._

A grimace crossed Lapis’ face, words and deeds from weeks past flitting through her mind. _Or, it is if I haven’t broken it like every other thing that gets close to me._

* * *

“Yeah, you kind of missed a lot, Steven.”

At that, Lars’ chuckle crescendoed into schadenfreude-laced guffaws. Steven frowned as he waited for Lars to finish, then eventually lost patience and began picking up the some of the debris scattered across the shop.

“Oh, you don’t have to do that, Steven,” Sadie said hastily, seeing her customer cleaning the place. “Here, I’ll just-” but she was cut off by Lars pounding the counter and whooping. “Oh, quit it already, Lars,” and she punctuated her point by elbowing him in the ribs.

“Ow! What’s the big idea?! It’s not my fault that was so pathetic.”

Steven seemed to bristle at that. “Hey, I didn’t think it was pathetic,” he objected as he chased down toppled cups and scattered napkins. He deposited an armful into the trash bag Sadie was holding open, then ran a hand through his hair. “Actually, I still don’t know what that was exactly. Did she slip while wearing those shoes with wheels in the bottom, because mom said those were just a fad but I didn’t think they were dangerous, I just thought she was afraid I’d accidentally knock over the harps again but they’d waxed the floors in the shop and-”

“Steven!” Sadie interrupted when the boy’s stream-of-consciousness ramble showed no sign of abating, “that was Connie. She lives in the big statue-house down the beach from here and, uh… Lars, help me out on this one.”

“Her whole family’s a magnet for disasters and freak accidents. Stuff like this just happens. What’s it been, three ‘Connies’ this month?” the irreverent clerk asked.

Sadie shot him a glare, then paused in thought. “No, that one with the electric skull thing was on the 31st, so it’s only been two so far. Regardless, she’s a sweet girl, polite, and usually just wants to read by herself.” 

Sadie grabbed a bottle of window cleaner and some paper towels from a cabinet and started removing the smudges left by Connie’s impact near the door. She paused, noticing the copy of _The Unfamiliar Familiar_ that Connie had left behind in her escape. “Speaking of which, she forgot her book. I’ll just put it behind the counter until she comes back,” she said, matching deeds to words. Rounding on Steven, the stout clerk finished with, “Anyway, she’s nice. She just gets caught up in a lot of magic and stuff.”

Steven looked from Sadie, to Lars, and back to Sadie, waiting for more to be said or for one of them to claim to be joking. “Magic stuff? Is she a magician? Wait! Her whole family are magicians? That sounds amazing! Hey, I can return her book so she doesn’t have to wait. _Unfamiliar Familiar_ is a great story and I know I wouldn’t want to have to wait if I was in the middle of reading it too. You said she lives just down the beach, right? Thanks! Man, dad is going to be-”

“Steven!” Sadie again interrupted, “You still haven’t paid for that can of Strawberry Sugar Shock Shutdown or the gummy worms.”

Steven sprinted up to the counter and paid hurriedly, then jogged out of the store and down the beach.

Lars settled back into position for optimal lazing, looking down to his phone once more. “Five bucks says he blows it.”

* * *

 

Jasper returned from the burning room to find what sounded like Lapis and Connie whispering under a blanket. She cocked an eyebrow and leaned a massive elbow against the counter. It creaked. She waited.

The sobbing had all but stopped and neither Connie nor Lapis had said anything for a few minutes when there was knock at the door. Jasper shoved off from the counter, pushed her bangs back, and strode towards the front of the house, her long stride eating up the distance.

She opened the door and stood at the threshold, for a moment seeing nothing but the sand and sea beyond. Then she looked down and saw a smaller-than-average human staring up at her, eyes wide, mouth agape.

After several seconds of silence, Jasper closed the door and walked back toward the kitchen. _Just a lost human,_ she thought.

There was another knock, Jasper opened the door once more, and saw the same human, their mouth flapping open and closed but no words were coming out. _Chewing something? Defective?_ “Enough,” she said and picked up the confused creature, tucked it under her arm, leapt down to the sand below -- _Oh, so it can make noise_ \-- and hiked to the nearby food building with the oversized loop on top.

Jasper set the human down, gave its head a perfunctory pat, then turned and strode rapidly back to the Beach House.

* * *

Steven remained in that position for a full minute after the large, orange lady vanished around the bend, his mind racing and his body unwilling to move.

_Orange! Huge! And with big hair, hey, kind of like that green alien on the cover of that Xanxor book dad won’t let me read. Is she an alien?! Was I just reverse-abducted? Should I feel relieved or insulted about that? She didn’t look like a magician, but I doubt there’s another big house in a statue that way. Is she the bouncer? Do I need to dress like a magician to get in? Maybe if I tell her I’ve got Connie’s book she’ll be lenient about the dress code issue. Okay Steven, just remember that book you read. Step one: think of what you want to say. Step two: say it. “Hi! My name is Steven. I was looking for a girl, she came running this way from the Big Donut, brown hair, dark skin, overalls, she left her book.” Perfect. And if she requires a display of magic to go in, I can just show her the magic little sausage trick._

His plan worked out, Steven nodded to himself and set off once more down the beach.

“What’d I say? Five bucks. Pay up.”

“Hey, I told you ‘no deal’, Lars... It was a sucker bet anyway.”

* * *

“Ugh! I know we have another roll of it around here somewhere. How am I supposed to construct my anti-shard measures without sufficient duct tape?” Peridot groused to no one in particular while rummaging through the drawers in the kitchen.

There was a knock at the door. “I’m not getting it!” Jasper called out from her well-worn spot on the couch. “Oh fine. I can’t proceed with my current task anyway,” said the Green gem, her gravity connectors clomping as she walked across the wood floor.

Peridot opened the door and looked at one ‘Mr. Universe’, if the stylized label on his appearance modifier was accurate. _Hmm, primitive ear enhancers,_ she thought with a hint of approval.

“I-I’m- girl- Big Donut- uh… book?” he said, holding up a report on printed plant fiber, the cover of which Peridot recognized from seeing Connie study it at frequent intervals.

“Um, yes, I see. We already have that one. Unless you have other, useful wares, you may conduct yourself elsewhere. Good day,” Peridot addressed the Universe fellow and closed the door. She paused, then opened the door again, the adolescent jumping in surprise. “Actually, you don’t have any duct tape, do you?” He conveyed a negative with a shake of his head. “Figures,” Peridot grumbled, the door shutting.

Stepping back towards the kitchen, Peridot glanced up and saw Connie grooming herself while sniffling and looking tired. _The symptoms of a foreign pathogen? I’ll have to investigate,_ she thought. Lapis was walking down the steps from the loft, her shirt damp for some reason. “Who was that?” asked the Lazuli.

“A human without duct tape, I’m afraid. Do you think the roll might have fallen behind the cookware again? If I don’t find some soon I’ll-” Peridot answered, the rest of her sentence muffled when she stuck her head inside a cabinet and began lifting up pots and pans.

There was a knock at the door just as Lapis reached the bottom of the steps to the loft. She opened it, saw a boy in pink with thick, brown hair, and yelled over her shoulder, “Connie, a little friend of yours is here!”

Connie, her hair made unruly by a combination of blanket-head and static electricity, paused between brushstrokes, confused. “I don’t have friends. What are you ta-...” She froze. Lapis had stepped aside, allowing her a clearer look at the figure standing in the doorway.

She bolted to her feet, sprinted down the steps, somehow managing not to trip and die from a broken neck or embarrassment, and ran to the door. “Hiiiiii. Could you wait here for just a moment?” She smiled, the door closing slowly at first before slamming shut as Connie pressed her back against it. “I don’t know what to do?” she squeaked, looking to each of the gems for guidance.

Peridot, just visible around the counter, a cast iron skillet in one hand, spoke first. “You must engage in human interaction.”

“Yeah, but earlier- and with the coffee cups- oh, and me shouting like a lunatic?” the words tumbling out of Connie’s mouth in a rush.

Jasper gave an annoyed huff and stood up from the couch. “You know this human, right?”

“I- I mean, I guess so.”

“And they're not a threat to you?”

“No! He was just buying snacks when I-”

Jasper picked Connie up by the back of her overalls with one hand, opened the door with the other, and set her down outside. Behind her, Connie heard the click of the door being locked.

Looking as startled as Connie felt, the Mystery Boy blinked, shifted a book he was holding into his left hand, and offered her a handshake with his right.

“Hi. I’m Steven.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another shout out to Mjstudioarts (http://mjstudioarts.tumblr.com/) for her continued help with both the story and contributing her lovely art for this chapter.
> 
> Make sure you check out the Connieswap Tumblr to keep up to date with any news of the story, or to ask the crew or the characters any questions you want answered.


	3. Beach City Fun Buddies

“C-Connie. I’m Connie. Nice to meet you,” she said, a little dazed but managing to accept his handshake.

The boy, Steven, broke into a big smile and pumped her arm enthusiastically for a moment before the book under his other arm started to slip. 

With a yelp, he dropped the handshake and scrambled to catch the book. It bounced in his hands once, twice, and then was caught on third try, Steven giving a triumphant “Ahah!” 

He then paused, looked up at Connie, and blushed, hiding his face somewhat while offering her the novel.

Connie took it a little hesitantly, confused, then recognized the forest of colored sticky notes peeking out from the top of the book; sticky notes Connie had placed herself to indicate significant passages or places she had felt strongly about. 

“Oh! Did I leave that at the Big Donut? I must have when I-” Connie froze, feeling keenly the painful embarrassment that had driven her from the donut shop. Confronted on her doorstep, Connie could only turn away, clutching the book to her chest, her blood suddenly loud in her ears as the first stirrings of a panic attack began within her.

A gentle voice cut through the incipient waves of panic. “It’s okay, ya know? You probably feel like you did something huge and dumb and you want to go hide under a blanket or something. I’ve literally done that, actually. Dad calls it my Blanket Fortress of Solitude.”

He walked into Connie’s field of view. Connie must have subconsciously began to curl up because Steven had to crouch to be at her level, all while speaking softly and keeping a nice buffer of space between them. 

“If you’d like, we can forget about before and start over; pretend we just met while we were walking along the beach. Or I can go and leave my phone number at the Big Donut. Then you can call me whenever you’re feeling a little better. Oh! I mean, if you want to. I don’t want you to feel forced to or anything. I’m sorry.” 

He stood and backed a little ways away, rubbing the back of his neck and giving a weak smile.

The knot in Connie’s chest eased a little and she found breathing to be something she could control again. After a few seconds she straightened up, brushed some hair back behind her ears, and gave Steven a smile of her own, weak but genuine. 

“Connie Maheswaran,” she said, arm extended. 

“Steven Universe,” he answered, handshake met, both grinning widely.

Adopting a posh accent, Connie completed the handshake and continued her address. “Nice to meet you, sir. Lovely day for a stroll along the beach, wouldn’t you agree?”

Steven, pretending to tip an invisible top hat, replied, “Yes indeed, m’lady. Yes indeedily-dee. If you’d care to, I can escort you a ways. I have this new cane,” he said, miming a flourish with the walking stick, “that must be broken in and so I would welcome the company.”

“Yes, and I’m on my way to the haberdasher to have my bustle embroidered, and a lady shan’t barter with tradesmen unaccompanied. Good sir, I accept!” 

Connie extended the crook of her arm to Steven, a haughty expression on her face… for all of about two seconds before the two of them broke into fits of giggles.

After Connie set her book down by the Beach House door, they continued to play out little scenes across a wide range of props and accents, all while walking down the steps of the Beach House. At the bottom, Steven gestured toward the south-west and asked, “Do you want to go get some bits with me?”

“Bits?” Connie asked, eyebrow raised.

“Over at the fry shop. You know those small pieces of fries that are super crispy that no one wants? The ones that kinda sit at the bottom of the basket? Those are the bits and they’re the best!” Steven exclaimed, eyes bright and smile, wide.

“But if they’re the best, why does no one want them?” Connie asked. 

Steven’s smile shifted into a look of serious deliberation, index finger stroking his chin in thought. “That… is a good question,” he said, then turned to Connie and waggled his eyebrows, “and one I hope to answer with your help, m’lady.”

Connie snickered. “Alright, I’ll try these ‘bits’, since it’s for science.”

“Yes, for science. Delicious, crunchy science,” he said in a silly voice as they walked. A few seconds later he spoke back up, voice normal, “I’m not shocked you haven’t tried them; you have to order off menu and then persuade Peedee to make ‘em.”

“Peedee?”

“He’s usually at the fryer or the register. About our age. Um, oh!” said Steven, grinning widely to show his teeth and then gesturing at a point along the top row. “He has a missing tooth.”

“Oh, I think I know who you’re talking about. I’m surprised I haven’t seen you before; I may not know all that many people’s names but I can probably recognize all the locals on sight. At the donut shop I thought you were an off-season tourist or something.”

The pair made their way past the Big Donut, where Sadie was outside sweeping. Steven and Connie waved and received one in return. A flicker of embarrassment crossed Connie’s face but was buried or forgotten when Steven resumed their conversation.

“We moved into town pretty recently. You remember that day when there was that weird red circle thing over the water?” asked Steven.

“Yeah, I, uh, remember that day pretty clearly,” Connie replied, feeling suddenly self-aware and thinking to herself, _What if he thinks I’m weird? Well, I mean, I am weird, or my life is, which is probably bad enough for someone normal like him_.

“I know! That was bananas! Anyway, mom, dad, and I were celebrating the unpacking of the last box over at Fish Stew Pizza when that happened, so we moved in…” and Steven paused, silently mouthing numbers while making tallying motions with his fingers, “about three weeks before that.”

“Where did you move here from?” asked Connie, silently adding, _and did they let you know you were moving to a town full of crazy gem magic and monster attacks?_

“Oh, all over. My dad used to tour a lot as a musician, and in-between those he’d get hired by other bands to do all kinds of stuff like write lyrics, graphic design, forum moderation, and fine-tuning their audio arrangement.”

“That’s really neat! My dad travels a lot for his job too but I’ve lived in the Beach House since I was a few years old. I’ve done a little bit of traveling recently but I, uh, I don’t know if it really agrees with me,” Connie said outwardly while inwardly wincing.

Steven nodded his head. “Yeah, it can be kind of hard. You’d think living out of a tour bus would be nothing but fun but you can only eat so many Road Waffle Scrambles before you miss real food,” he said, making an exaggerated grimace and clutching his stomach, causing them both to laugh.

“Mom decided life on the road wasn’t good for our family anymore so we came to Beach City. Mom and dad have some friends that live in town, we’ve made trips here lots of times, and I think my dad is from the area,” he said, as they strolled down the boardwalk.

Steven gestured north-east and added, “My dad bought the car wash and works there now. He says he wants to work on his tan,” causing him to chuckle.

 _Must be a family joke or something_ , thought Connie, failing to see the humor.

“Mom gives music lessons and can play a ton of instruments. She’s even having the house renovated into a music shop. You should come by some time when it’s finished.”

Connie nodded but then movement ahead caught her attention, causing her, and subsequently Steven, to stop. An anthropomorphised box of french fries was dejectedly shuffling around, attempting to entice customers to eat at the fry shop but mainly succeeding at enticing gulls to swoop down at it.

“Gah! I told you, I’m not fries!” screamed a reedy voice. The figure then toddled as fast as the mascot suit would permit over to the side of the fry shop and grabbed a rake that was propped up there.

“Shoo! Go away!” it shouted, swinging the rake angrily overhead.

A deep voice from inside the fry shop called out, “You’re doing great work out there, Frybo. Keep it up!” 

A slightly higher one then shouted, “And if you see something blog-worthy, let me know!”

Somehow this ‘Frybo’ person managed to radiate absolute weariness despite being largely hidden within a boxy, cartoonish suit.

Steven cupped his hands in front of his mouth and called out, “Hey Peedee! Great costume!”

Peedee turned to face them, allowing Connie to see the mascot from the front. She didn’t share Steven’s enthusiasm but, judging from his demeanor, neither did Peedee.

Unbidden, her mind wondered what would happen if a gem shard got loose in that outfit, and she shuddered to think of it.

Peedee gave a sad wave in response. “Hey Steven.”

He then dropped into a dull monotone and said, “Come on by Beach Citywalk Fries, with fries so good-,” at which point Peedee had to pause so the sheer volume of his sigh could escape him, “-you’ll want to dance.” 

The boy then gave a half-hearted shuffle and ended with a weak ‘ta-da’, complete with the impression of jazz hands, despite them being noticeably absent.

In contrast, Steven was practically beaming as he gestured beside him. “This is my new friend Connie. She lives with the magicians in the big statue-house past the lighthouse.”

“Magicians?” Peedee and Connie both asked, unheeded.

“We’re gonna split an order of the bits from the fry shop. She’s never tried them before, so maybe she’ll like them so much she will dance,” enthused the large boy.

Peedee looked at Steven, then Connie, an eyebrow raised in an unvocalized question.

“I’m, uh, not really much of the dancing type. But Lapis likes the fries from here plenty,” Connie was quick to say.

“She’s the blue one, right? Yeah, Ronaldo is always trying to film her when she comes by. One time he was a bit too persistent and she splashed him with the dirty dish water,” deadpanned Peedee.

Connie looked a little abashed as she answered, “Lapis can get a little-”

“-from across the beach,” Peedee cut in.

Connie tried to think of an excuse but frankly it sounded too plausible to refute. “Yeah, that’s Lapis. I’d say she won’t do it again but she probably will.” 

Meanwhile, she stole a glance at Steven, her inner monologue firing back up. _Now he’s going to think I was raised by a bunch of dangerous weirdos. Then he’ll think that I’m one too. He seems like he has no trouble making friends; why would he want to hang out with someone like me?_

Peedee unknowingly broke her from her thoughts when he, to the extent that he could in his costume, shrugged. “Don’t worry about it. Ronaldo can be a little… intense sometimes. I mean, he’s harmless, but, eh, it’s Beach City; those sorts of things happen.”

He then tried to look over his shoulder, saw a faceful of costume instead, shook his head a little, then turned back to Connie, “Anyway, if I don’t get back into character soon dad is going to notice. It was nice meeting you face-to-, uh, Frybo. Enjoy your bits.”

And with that, Steven and Connie approached the order window while Peedee continued his beleaguered Frybo routine for the other passersby.

The large, apron-wearing gentleman with the gravity-defying yellow hair who usually took Lapis’ orders greeted them. “Hello Steven. Hello miss. What’ll it be today?”

“Hi Mr. Fryman. This is Connie. She and I are gonna split an order of the bits, please,” said a chipper Steven.

Mr. Fryman gave Connie a pleading look, but she replied with a smile to match Steven’s. The man completed the transaction, called the order to his son at the fryer, presumably Ronaldo, then walked to the back muttering under his breath.

Steven and Connie chatted idly while the bits were fried, drained, salted, and placed in a brown paper bag emblazoned with the shop’s logo. As Mr. Fryman passed them their snack, Ronaldo spotted the gleam reflecting off Connie’s gem. He raised his phone and snapped a quick photo over his dad’s shoulder.

“We’ve got the bits but, uh, I didn’t think about where to go from here. What do you think, Connie?” asked Steven while smiling over at her.

Connie looked around the area, a slightly panicked expression on her face, before spotting something and pointing it out to Steven.

“There’s a spot just over there on the beach that Lapis and I like to go when we’re relaxing. There’s a good angle for a breeze, the sand is just clumpy enough not to spray in the wind but not so wet as to soak through your clothes, and you’re far enough from the boardwalk that the mayor’s car doesn’t drown out conversation when he drives by,” Connie described, feeling suddenly relieved.

“Sounds great!” he said following her out while rolling the edges of the bag open for ease of access. 

That accomplished, he extended the snack her way, ceremonially offering her the first handful of bits. “Try ‘em, I really want to know what you think.”

Connie popped a few in her mouth, taking a moment to savor the salty goodness and appreciate their extra crunchiness over conventional fries. With exaggerated slowness she tapped her chin. 

“I think…”

“Yes?”

“Iiii thin-k…” she said, drawing out the words and over-enunciating the ‘k’.

Steven was practically vibrating with anticipation. “Yeees?”

In a rush Connie said, “I-think-I-need-some-more-to-be-sure,” snatched the bag from his unexpecting grip, and then sprinted across the sand. Steven gave a loud laugh and chased after her.

A brief chase later, Connie flopped down, breathing hard but laughing all the same. Steven caught up a little later, panting, and wagged a finger at her in mock reproach.

“For the crime of stealing the bits I, the honorable judge Steven, hereby sentence you to letting me try on your glasses,” he said, pulling himself up into an imperious pose.

“If I did it again would that make me a _two-bit_ thief?” Connie punned.

Steven grinned broadly. “Yeah, you’re _small fries_ but your crimes will _ketchup_ with you sooner or later.”

Connie held up her hands in mock surrender, “Then I turn myself in peacefully. I don’t _relish_ getting in trouble for _a-salting_ an officer.”

The two stared at each other, expressions serious, for all of a moment before Connie broke down giggling. Steven was quick to follow. 

Once the two of them regained their composure, Connie removed her glasses and handed them gingerly to Steven. He put them on, taking special care to tuck the temple tips behind his hearing aids.

“How do I look?” he asked, facing upward to admire the clouds, now rose-tinted.

“Even pinker than usual, I’d say,” Connie deadpanned between bites, her face feeling a little exposed.

“Are these just for show? Everything looks the same. Well, more pink, I guess,” he said, swiveling his head back and forth to take in the new view.

“No, I’ve needed glasses since I was a little girl. Peridot --she’s the one that asked about duct tape-- gives me an eye exam every few months and makes the lenses herself. She’s really good at both diagnostics and making things in her workshop, so they must just be a really subtle prescription or something,” she said with a shrug.

A minute or so passed. Satisfied that Connie had served out her punishment, Steven carefully removed her glasses and handed them back. Once they were back in place, she looked up and saw Steven idly watching some of the boardwalk-goers.

“Thanks for the bits, by the way. They’re delicious,” Connie said. When there was no reply she cleared her throat and spoke again. Finally, she gave a little wave in Steven’s direction.

“Wha? Oh, sorry about that,” he said, a faint blush creeping up his cheeks as he used a finger to adjust some dials on his hearing aids. “I think my hair brushes the volume knobs sometimes when I turn my head. What’d you say?”

“It’s no problem,” Connie said, “I was just saying that you were right, the bits are the best.” Steven flashed her a thousand-watt smile in response.

The two settled down into a companionable silence for a time, passing the bag of fry bits back and forth, listening to the wind and the waves.

Finally, Steven, who was leaning back facing the surf, his arms down at his sides propping him up, broke the silence. “So I’ve been meaning to ask, the, uh, rainbow ladies? Who are they?”

Connie, her inner calm quaking a little, took a breath, then turned to face Steven. _He was going to ask sooner or later_ , she thought with resigned consternation. 

“They’re the Crystal Gems. They protect Beach City and the Earth. They used to work with my mom and they sort of help my dad raise me now,” she said, pulling herself up and sitting cross-legged.

“Oh? Is your mom away a lot? I know you mentioned earlier that your dad traveled,” he inquired before popping a few bits into his mouth.

As though she were cold, Connie crossed her arms in front of her and hunched forward a little. “My mom… She’s not with us anymore.”

Steven choked briefly, pounding his chest to help him swallow, though his expression didn’t change much even after recovering.

Before he could respond beyond a stuttered ‘s-sorry’, Connie shook her head. “You couldn’t have known, so don’t worry about it.”

She then pressed on to keep them from lingering overmuch on a depressing topic. “Dad is a kind of combination bodyguard and event coordinator. He works out of Empire City mostly, though he’s traveled all over. He always sends me postcards. I have this big collection hanging up over my bed!”

“That’s really cool. I remember dad had a concert in Japan one time and sent me all these neat figurines. I’ve got Sanic, Cloud, Gitaroo Man, and lots others. Ooh, do you collect anything?” Steven enthused, causing Connie to grin.

“Books, mainly. Although when I was a little girl I used to like GAL figures. I don’t think my dad has realized out I’ve outgrown them because he sometimes mails me new ones.”

“GAL?” Steven asked, head tilted in confusion.

Connie wiped her hands on the pants of her overalls to get rid of the sand and reached over to take another handful of bits. “Yeah. GAL. **G** irls **A** mbitiously **L** iving,” she explained.

“Oh, neat!” said Steven before the conversation lulled briefly.

Steven drummed his fingers on his pants a little, stealing glances at Connie, and humming as though making a poor attempt at nonchalance.

“Earlier you said the Crystal Gems protect Beach City. What does it need protection from?” he asked, a small quaver in his voice.

 _And here it is_ , Connie thought. _I bet he thinks of an excuse to leave after this. Maybe he’ll talk his family into moving somewhere else entirely! Oh, he’s looking at me. Just get it over with, Connie!_ , she added, mentally admonishing herself.

“Monsters, mostly, although the incident at the Big Donut was from an artifact of theirs getting loose in my laundry somehow,” Connie said, trying hard to gauge Steven’s reaction from her peripheral vision.

“Monsters?! You mean like that big red thing that crashed into the ocean?” he asked, eyes wide.

Connie pushed some sea-blown hair back behind her ears, seemingly reluctant to answer. “Yeah, that was Lapis’ handiwork, actually. She’s really good with water.” 

Connie turned and gestured to a spot a little ways off. “We weren’t too far from here when she did it, in fact.”

After a few seconds of wind and silence, Connie looked over at Steven, who was staring at her, his mouth forming an ‘o’.

Connie’s self-consciousness surged to the fore. She fidgeted, brushing some crumbs off her shirt and smoothing out her overalls. Just as her composure was about to crack, Steven leapt up.

“That is so coool! Is that why you have that pretty gemstone on your chest? Does it let you, like, summon energy weapons and shoot lasers?!” Steven nearly shouted, such was his enthusiasm.

 _Wait, did he say ‘pretty’?!_ a corner of Connie’s mind thought while she blinked owlishly under Steven’s upbeat onslaught.

“Lasers are more Peridot’s thing, although there was this one time with a bunch of crystal shrimp and a laser pointer…” Connie explained looking a little nostalgic.

“Oh, and I’ve only ever summoned my sword once, and it wasn’t even useful. I just broke a piece of the temple by accident and had to fight with a pipe when the big monster showed up,” Connie added self-effacingly.

“YOU HAVE A SWORD?!” Steven yelled in amazement, his arms spread wide and his eyes, wider. 

He then clasped his hands to his head, turned to the empty beach around them and shouted, “SHE HAS A SWORD! AND SHE FIGHTS MONSTERS!”

He tried to gesture toward Connie, the hair tie restraining his fierce curls catching on his thumb and snapping in the process. Undeterred by the hair whipping around his face, Steven motioned with both hands, as though he had pulled back a tarp and revealed Connie before an audience.

“You must be the coolest girl in the whole world! I thought living in the same town as an amusement park was as good as it got but I was waaay off,” he said while pacing, his enthusiasm simply too large to contain.

After another minute of continued exclamations and staggering about, Steven seemed to lose momentum, sitting down in the sand with an audible ‘whomp’. Connie, meanwhile, was blushing a fierce red, completely unprepared for having her praises literally shouted to the world.

Steven turned to Connie, his face lit up with an infectious grin she couldn’t help but return.

“Just, wow… I have so many questions. Am I allowed to ask questions? Would that ruin the magical destiny thing you’ve got going on?”

Connie rubbed the back of her neck, face still flushed. “Questions are fine. And I agree, it’s so frustrating and cliché when the protagonist just accepts things at face value.”

Steven spat out some hair that had whipped into his mouth, then started to count on his fingers as he spoke, “One: Do you have a mysterious scar and, follow-up question, is it shaped like a crown, lightning bolt, sword, or treasure map?”

Connie chuckled, heady from Steven’s exuberant interest, one hand resting on her leg and the other brought to her chest just under her gem. “No. No scars, mysterious or otherwise.”

“Two: Is there a terrible enemy sealed away somewhere that is going to try and destroy the world?”

“Not that I know of. Besides, the Crystal Gems have been protecting the Earth for thousands of years, so they would have dealt with anything like that a long time ago.”

Steven nodded and mimed checking a box on a checklist. “Three: Do you have a magical pet or talking animal companion?”

Connie couldn’t help but laugh. “No. I mean, Lapis and Jasper sometimes shapeshift into animals for fun, but I don’t think that counts.”

“Four: Are you expected to fight and/or befriend an evil version of yourself?”

“Peridot says I’m the only half-gem there is, so I don’t think there could be an evil version of me in the first place.”

“Five: Is there some mighty ruler-slash-rulers that has sworn revenge on you or your family?”

“There was a big war, but that was thousands of years ago so I don’t think any rulers know or care about my family. It’s mostly just us fighting monsters and going to ruins.”

“Okay, last one. Six: Do you have a talking mirror or advice-giving doodad which is secretly trying to get you to do its bidding?”

“But if it’s a secret, I wouldn’t know about it,” Connie countered.

Steven rubbed his chin, looking thoughtful. “Hmm, you’re right. It just seems so obvious when you’re the one reading the story.”

“I know what you mean! But no, the gems are my only magical sources of advice, and the only bidding they want from me is completed homework assignments, snacks, and sticking to my exercise regime. Nothing particularly nefarious.”

Steven was nodding in agreement when the wind reared up, causing his face to vanish in a brown mass of unrestrained hair. He cleared the worst of it from his face with one hand while the other patted his pockets for spare ties. 

“Well phooey, that was my last hair tie that broke. Do you have any?” Connie searched but came up empty-handed. Once more a gust roared in, leaving Steven sputtering. Connie looked around for any solution, her expression conveying her apparent displeasure with the elements.

Connie’s gem glowed briefly and then… no more wind save for a faint stirring around Connie’s ankles.

A few feet in front of Connie, a yellow, see-through barrier hung vertically, seemingly unsupported. In defiance of gravity, it started a few inches above the sand, allowing only a muted, low-flying breeze. From there it stretched upward and outward about ten feet square, if Connie was any judge.

“The coolest,” Connie heard whispered behind her. She turned and saw Steven staring in rapt wonderment at both her and the pane of yellow magic.

Connie smiled, then turned back and approached it, giving it a curious poke. It didn’t budge. The texture was smooth and it gave the impression of being really sturdy. _Like a car windshield, maybe?_ , pondered Connie.

Steven wasn’t far behind her. “So, do you often make force fields?”

“No, this is new. I don't know what this is,” Connie said as she rapped her knuckles on it.

Steven looked at the barrier, adopted a serious expression, then turned to Connie. “Then we must do our best to test this new destiny power of yours. You don’t want to be fighting your archnemesis on a crumbly bridge over a lake of acid only to learn your force fields are dissolvable.”

Connie opened her mouth to disagree, but then stopped. _I mean, I did have my homework melted into slag by centipeetle-spit not all that long ago_ , she recalled.

“You know, I want to disagree but I can’t. Though I don’t have any acid to test this with. Do you?”

Steven thought for a moment. “Nooo, but I guess this is kinda close,” and with that he ran up and licked the force field.

Connie doubled over giggling at his impulsive antics. “Gross!” she shrieked between peels of laughter.

“It tastes like old pennies,” Steven said, wiping his tongue. Despite the saliva, the field remained intact.

“Well, I guess that makes… _cents_ ,” Connie said, grinning widely.

Steven leaned against the barrier and groaned into his free hand. 

A little later and without explanation, Steven ran off and found an old, green plastic bottle half-buried in the sand. He cleaned it off and shined a tiny LED light he had attached to his keychain through the bottle. This made a circle of green light, which he then move across the field.

“Um, what’s this testing, exactly?” Connie asked, perplexed.

“My dad has these old comics where a superhero can summon things made out of green magic, but they break if they touch yellow light. I thought maybe this would be the same but, ya know, in reverse.”

“I don’t think that’s how gem magic works, but better safe than sorry,” Connie said with a smile.

After a few more trials of possible frailties, Steven walked around to the other side of the field and waved at Connie. Apparently the wind had since died down as he was no longer being assaulted by his own thick, brown mane.

The two pretended to mirror one another. They had a brief but intense sand fight without the risk of anyone getting grit in their eyes or hair. They played a couple games of charades.

It was during the end of one of those that Steven stumbled upon the idea of fogging the field up with his breath and then doodling on it with his finger.

“Huh? Um… the ocean? Beach… Oh, boats. The dock!” Connie guessed. Steven gave her a big smile and a thumbs up.

“Right. Now it’s your turn,” he said, voice partially muffled by the barrier.

They took turns drawing and guessing for another few minutes. Connie was in the middle of drawing a crab when the field vanished as suddenly as it had appeared. No longer meeting resistance, Connie’s finger shot forward and booped Steven on the nose accidentally.

The two stared at one another for a moment before breaking into laughter for the umpteenth time that day.

“Pfft! Sorry! Sorry!” Connie giggled, quickly covering her mouth.

“It’s okay. Really,” Steven laughed back while rubbing his nose. “I guess it has a time limit. That or a good sense of comedic timing.”

They began gathering up the trash and belongings that had gotten scattered by their playing when there was a brief shaking of the ground.

“I wonder what that’s about,” asked Connie.

Steven turned to answer when his eyes widened and he waved energetically past Connie. “Oh hey! It’s Yellowtail’s boat. We should go see him!”

Sure enough, a fishing trawler followed by a flock of gulls was motoring in from the south and heading east, presumably to travel around the lighthouse and to the docks on the north side of town.

“Yellowtail?”

“Yeah, he’s one of my dad’s friends. Come on, I’ll introduce you,” said Steven, taking Connie’s hand and leading her toward the Boardwalk.

Connie accepted his hand and completely mistook the tremor beneath her feet with the flutter in her chest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As usual, we'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments and your asks at the [Connie Swap Tumblr](http://connieswap.tumblr.com/).


	4. Dockside Difficulties

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Here's a map of Beach City](http://i3.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/001/029/722/33b.jpg) ([Alternate Link](https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1966/44933825761_4251375633_o_d.jpg)) you can use if you want context for the street names and locations used in the chapter.
> 
> Note that we took one liberty with the geography, in that the old docks of Connie Swap's Beach City lead down to the new docks. Both are locations visited by Connie and Steven in the episode _Bubble Buddies_ but here they are visited simultaneously rather than consecutively.

Steven led Connie across the beach and onto the boardwalk. As they strolled past the fry shop they passed a tired looking Frybo/Peedee sitting on a bench next to the mascot’s head, sipping a drink. Steven and Connie each waved, which Peedee replied with a chagrined nod of the head.

Connie looked thoughtful for a moment as the two cut through Dewey Park. “Can you tell me more about this Yellowtail person?”

Steven smiled in return, “Sure! So, he’s Vidalia’s husband. Second husband? No, I don’t think she and Marty were actually married,” he digressed, tapping his chin. “Anyway, Vidalia and Yellowtail have known my parents since before I was born. They’re really nice.”

Connie nodded and the pair turned onto Main Street, walking in the shade of multi-story buildings. 

_Steven knows so many people,_ Connie thought, _while I hardly go anywhere other than the Big Donut and the Buddwick Public Library._ Then she amended, _Well, and dad’s hotel when he’s in town. Maybe I shou-!_ , and she startled slightly when she noticed Steven was talking again.

“-sic from old video games when he DJs. It’s really neat, though some of it is a little hard for me to make out,” he said, pointing at one of his ears, all while Connie tried to mentally rewind the conversation. “I still have a glow stick from the last performance of his I got to see. His brother, Onion, is shy but also kinda intense, if you can imagine that, and he talks with the same accent as his dad.”

Connie latched onto this last detail and spoke up, “Oh, is Yellowtail foreign? I know some Tamil from my father and Peridot insisted I learn enough French to be able to follow along with her favorite TV show, but other than that I’m not very worldly.”

Steven’s voice inflected up into a question as they had turned left on Crawford Terrace, the waters of Rehoboth Bay visible beyond. “Peridot’s favorite TV show is in French? What is it? Not that I know anything about her, but that still surprises me.”

Connie chuckled, “She’s really into this cheesy, old canadian sitcom called ‘Camp Pining Hearts’ that’s about a bunch of teens at a summer camp. There’s one season where they travel to their sister camp in Quebec after this girl named Paulette accidentally starts a grease fire that-” _Oh no! I’m about to go ‘Peridot’ on him. Abort!_ , she thought, eyes suddenly wide.

Shaking her head briefly, Connie turned back to Steven. “You know what, the details aren’t important. The point is, some of the dialogue and a bunch of the background signs are in French, and Peridot insisted that the subtext was only really understandable if you weren’t reliant on English translations. You can ask her about it sometime, but I warn you, she will _literally_ go on all day about it. All night, too.”

“I’ll be careful talking shows with her,” Steven said with a laugh. “Anyway, no, Yellowtail is from Delmarva, he’s just got a heavy regional accent that is kinda hard for some people to understand. Honestly, I’ve always thought he sounds a little like my dad.”

He seemed thoughtful for a moment. “If you need my help, just give me a sign. Oh! Maybe you could wiggle your ears. Can you wiggle your ears? Mom can’t but dad does it anytime he’s trying to get me to laugh. Or you could find a way to say, um, ‘cottage cheese’ during the conversation. I know! You could-”

“Steven!” Connie interrupted her increasingly excited friend. “If I get lost, I’ll just ask if he could repeat himself and you can step in. Sound good?”

Steven gave a self-deprecating smile. “Yeah, that sounds better than my ideas. Although…” and then he smiled impishly at Connie, eyebrows waggling. Noticing Connie’s confused stare, he blinked, mouthed a silent ‘duh’ to himself, then used a hand to raise his unrestrained curls, revealing his ear, wiggling.

Connie giggled. Then, not to be outdone, she crossed her eyes and wiggled her nose like a bunny; something that had always amused Lapis greatly and once caused Peridot to examine her for a deviated septum.

Steven guffawed, delight and surprise writ across his face, then leaned against a building to ride out his laughing fit. “Woo-hoo-hoo-wow!” he finished, wiping under his eyes. “How ‘bout we use that for the secret ‘a-okay’ sign?” 

Connie gave him a grin and a thumbs up as the two crossed Waterman Street, neither able to keep a completely straight face for long.

* * *

“Hi Uncle Yellowtail! Hey Onion!” Steven yelled out, giving a big wave to the figures aboard the trawler at the far side of the docks.

A short and stocky man with a voluminous, pale beard, clad head to toe in bright rainwear, set down the rope he was coiling and waved back. 

Kneeling nearby was a short boy with a dollop of similarly-blonde hair atop his head. He was dressed in a white shirt, red set of pants, and blue overshirt; this last item he had tied around his neck like a cape. Despite Steven’s call, he didn’t turn away from… Connie wasn’t sure what he was doing exactly, but it looked like he was fanning something laid out on the deck of the trawler.

Steven walked up the short gangway and moved to give Yellowtail a hug, but the latter made a stopping motion with his hands, gestured over his raincoat, pointed to the hold full of fish, then waved his hand in front of his nose.

“Oh, I get it, Uncle Yellowtail. Heh, thanks for the warning. By the way, this is my new friend Connie! We were on the beach by the boardwalk when we saw you coming in. I wanted you two to get to meet her; she’s really cool!” exclaimed Steven, while Connie felt her blush rise slightly.

“Muhmuh! Muh muhmuh muh muh muhmuh muhmuh,” he said gesturing welcomingly across his boat, the impression of a grin penetrating his thick facial hair. 

Despite herself, Connie’s eyebrows shot straight up. _'Heavy accent', indeed. He sounds like Lapis doing her Jasper impression with a mouthful of marshmallows_ , she thought.

He then patted around his waistline, reached into a pocket, and withdrew a stunned-looking fish, which he offered to her.

“Uh, hehe, t-thank you, Mr. Yellowtail, sir, but I’m, uh, full?” Connie said, inflecting the polite refusal into a question, deeply unsure of the situation. Yellowtail shrugged philosophically and stowed the fish back in his raincoat pocket.

“Gee Onion, whatcha got there?” asked Steven, kneeling down beside the comparatively tiny boy. Long strips of bright red seaweed were arranged in rows, drying on the deck. Connie and Steven both gave a long, low ‘oooh’; the plant was so lustrous it seemed almost lit from within.

Yellowtail’s rainboots clumped on the deck as he walked over. “Muh muh muh muh, muh muhmuh muhmuh muh muhmuhmuh MUH!” he said, acting out himself trying to stay upright after a sudden jolt. 

“Muh muh, muh muh muhmuh muh muhmuh muhmuh muh muhmuh muhmuh muh,” he continued, one hand, fingers outstretched like a net, pulling violently free from the other, balled up into a fist.

“Muh muh muh muh muh muh muh muh muh muh MUH muh... muhmuhmuh muh muh,” he finished, miming reeling in the nets, then pointing at the red plants and ending with a shrug.

Steven nudged Connie, gestured with his eyes at Yellowtail, then looked back to her and raised an eyebrow. Connie showed a tiny smile and wiggled her nose, causing a laugh to bubble out of Steven despite his efforts to stifle it. 

Connie grinned, then noticed Onion’s perplexed stare. The two locked eyes, Connie shying away first. _I swear I haven’t seen him blink since we walked up here_ , she thought, taking a sudden interest in the railing opposite the eerie boy.

“You want me to what? Oh, okay,” chuckled Steven, causing Connie to refocus. Onion was holding up the end of one of the pieces of seaweed to Steven, who took it and then gawked as Onion threw his weight against it. Rather than snapping, the material stretched like elastic. 

Onion let go and Steven was slapped in the chest by the recoiling end. Connie was about to object when Steven started laughing. “Good one, Onion! This stuff is really neat.” This set off a peculiar round of tag between the two as each, armed with a stretchy length of seaweed, attempted to pop the other. 

Onion navigated the cluttered deck nimbly while Steven barreled through obstacles as often as he went around them. Connie and Yellowtail shared a glance and then shrugged in unison.

While the boys were chasing one another Yellowtail rummaged through his pockets once more, withdrew a pack of water crackers -- _Great with Caviar!_ , exclaimed the packaging-- and started snacking.

“Muhmuh?” he asked, offer clear. “No, still full, sir, but thanks.”

The game died down before too long, Steven and Onion splayed out on the deck panting. When Steven pulled himself up, so too did some of the seaweed, caught in the mass of his curls. Feeling back there, Steven started to remove it but paused, then used it to tie back his hair, “Co-oo-ool! Sea scrunchie!”

Onion, Steven, and Connie each set to work, tying his hair into pigtails and top knots and other silly hairdos before settling for his signature bushy ponytail. Onion’s tuft was too short to hold any and Yellowtail politely declined when they offered to decorate his beard. They then turned on Connie, who consented only after inspecting the plants and finding them both odorless and slime-free. Soon Connie’s hair was braided and shot through with strands of brilliant red.

* * *

Onion disappeared into the hold along with Yellowtail, the latter excusing them with a polite, “Muh muh muh,” before heading below to do… something. Connie wasn’t sure, but right then she wasn’t feeling particularly curious. Steven and she sat back-to-back, reclining into one another and enjoying the steady breeze coming off the bay.

“You were right earlier, about the blanket,” said Connie, eyes closed, relaxed by the gentle rocking of the boat.

“I was?” replied Steven, voice tinged with confusion but making no attempt to move.

“On the porch of the Beach House, you said I probably felt like I wanted to hide under a blanket because I thought I had done something dumb. Well, before you’d arrived, I had been doing just that: bawling under my blanket while Lapis soothed me.”

“Blanket Fortress of Solitude?”

“Blanketville. Population: one sad little girl.”

Steven gave a small, sagely nod and it was a minute before Connie spoke back up. “To my defense, it has been a stressful couple of weeks.”

“Magic stuff? Rainbow Lady stuff?” he asked.

“Both, really. That’s what’s been so nice about today. I mean, sure it got off to the usual start,” she groused before her tone softened, “but then it turned all nice and, I don’t know, _normal_. I haven’t had a normal day in a long time.”

“That’s funny because I was gonna say the same thing, but opposite, but… not? Like, today has been crazy! You showed up at the Big Donut and then I’m seeing magical rainbow ladies and playing with a force field and I got to meet a girl who has a sword and fights monsters!” he exclaimed.

“It’s like, you’ve packed a Sandwich of Destiny every day for lunch,” he elaborated, garnering a chuckle from Connie, “and I’ve been eating a Normal-wich on rye and we were both wanting something different so today, I gave you half of mine and you gave me half of yours,” he said, a little breathless by the end.

At that Connie found herself smiling, a warmth permeating her that had little to do with the sunshine.

The sincere moment was then interrupted as a heavy wind picked up, joined by the sound of assorted nautical items shaking in the breeze. A few errant splashes sounded from the water below. _Some rope from the deck being blown over the side?_ , wondered Connie. _I mean, it’s all tied down by at least one end so it’s not going to float away or anything._

Once the wind and noise faded, Connie spoke up. “Well, if you ever want to swap lunches again, you certainly know where I live. I’ll tell the gems not to hassle you at the door, by the way.”

Connie could practically hear Steven’s grin. “Sure. Oh! Can you, I don’t know, call me the next time you’re fighting a monster? Like, if there’ve been rumbling noises coming-” and coincidentally enough there was a deep rumble up through the deck. _Yellowtail must be doing something with the motor,_ thought Connie.

“-and it’s clear something is getting close-” and, for some reason, the boat rocked noticeably.

“-but you’ve had a surprising amount of time before it gets there, then call me and I’ll say… Huh, do you hear something?” he asked, fiddling with his hearing aids, the two finally sitting up from their comfortable bout of mutual reclining.

The ‘motor noise’ had resolved itself into something different, kind of like the sound of an onrushing motorcycle, if the vehicle were somehow driving underwater. “Oh no,” said Steven, “the rest of the seaweed got blown over the side. I hope Onion isn’t too disappointed.”

Just then there was a tremendous splash, as though a depth charge had erupted just off the boat’s starboard, spraying the dock and ship alike. “MUH muh MUH?!” said Yellowtail, his head poking up from an open hatch.

Right off the back of the boat, an enormous creature emerged from the water and slammed heavily onto the deck, causing everyone except Onion to scream. Brownish-red and mottled beneath a thick, transparent outer layer, the creature lurched up the deck. Searching blindly were five large thumb-like appendages distributed around a bulbous head, a head containing a gaping maw filled with concentric rings of jagged teeth that were centered around a pentagonal red gemstone.

It was like some improbably toothy nematode, enlarged to the size of a sea serpent, questing hungrily and shrieking as Steven and Connie scrambled ever higher towards the bow of the ship. The contents of the deck slid drunkenly down towards the vessel’s stern, nets and ropes scattering over everything as still other objects bounced off the creature’s rubbery hide and splashed into the water below.

The boat was tilting nearly thirty degrees above the horizontal when Yellowtail managed to climb to the controls and gun the engine. The monster roared and flung itself backward, crashing into the water like a leaping humpback whale. The motor then made a keening noise and abruptly died.

No longer counterbalanced, the ship seesawed violently. “Whooooa!” screamed Steven and Connie as the bow fell almost to water level before rearing up and pitching the two of them up and over. The pair landed on the adjacent dock in a heap.

Steven groaned. Connie lay splayed out and dazed, her glasses dangling off one ear as she disentangled herself from Steven. _Training,_ a part of her brain informed her, as though that explained anything. _Training?_ , she responded uncertainly, climbing to her feet and placing her glasses back in their rightful spot.

Her eyes went wide. _Oh, training! Right! Drill Two-Thirteen: ambush by an unknown enemy. First, assess surroundings, looking for threats and possible avenues for escape,_ and with that Connie made a quick survey.

The worm was nowhere to be seen, the water still choppy from its abrupt submersion. Yellowtail was attempting something with the trawler’s controls but didn’t look to be having much luck while Onion had appeared on deck with… a machete? _That’s a possible threat, though I’m not sure for whom_ , thought Connie. 

Steven was sitting upright, looking a little nauseated from the ride, stuffing a hearing aid that had been thrown clear of him into a pant pocket before adjusting the other and frowning. The docks and the few boats tethered to them were otherwise uninhabited.

 _Second, retreat with all due caution to a safe location and await reinforcements…_ “Steven! We need to go!”, she shouted, movements fueled by adrenaline as she hauled the surprised boy to his feet. The two ran.

As they were nearing the pier back onto land, Connie spotted a growing hump in the water, like a wave building up before breaking onto the beach or as though something large were traveling just beneath the surface.

Connie slammed to a halt and grabbed Steven by the arm as he nearly sprinted past, causing him to whip around in a semicircle, bleeding off momentum. “Wait, wha-” was all he could say before the worm reared up, extending out of the water like a snake. 

Connie lunged backwards, pulling on his arm as the two of them toppled, Connie on her back, Steven on his belly. The deck beneath them heaved as the worm missed them, crashing instead into and through the route to shore. Steven whipped his head around, saw the devastation, then scrambled to his feet while trying to haul Connie up as well. Her braid was caught on something and for a moment her head was wrenched back, scalp broadcasting pain signals on all frequencies before something gave and she was free once more.

Again the worm rose out of the water, this time alongside the deck. Steven and Connie ran headlong away, panic writ across their faces, before a reverberation through the deck and the snapping of splintering wood revealed the creature’s lunge had not been at them.

Confused, Connie jogged to a stop, turned, and saw a fragment of her hair, still wrapped in bright red seaweed, disappearing down the creature’s gullet. _It wants the seaweed!_ , Connie realized in a flash.

“Quick! Steven, give me the seaweed in your hair!”, Connie turned to Steven and shouted as she started tugging at her braid.

“What? Connie, what’s happening? What do I do?!” cried a visibly panicked Steven, fiddling in vain at his remaining hearing aid.

_Second, retreat with all due caution to a safe location and await reinforcements… unless there is an asset too valuable to leave behind. If so, Third, fight decisively and with all the resources at your disposal._

Connie took a deep breath.

_There’s no one else._

She glanced at the trawler on which, to her surprise, a few shreds of the red seaweed still clung; Yellowtail was fumbling to load a flare gun while Onion hacked at the netting that must have gotten wrapped around the ship’s motor.

_I have to be the hero._

Steven stared at Connie, wide-eyed, frightened, directionless.

_I have to fight back._

A rumble from behind told her the worm was on the move again. Connie reached past Steven’s shoulder and yanked off his lustrous hair tie; Steven yelped in surprise. She tore it in half and tucked one end of it into the chest pocket of her overalls. Then she tore the remaining portion into a dozen small pieces, threw them over her shoulder, pivoted Steven by the elbow, and ran them a dozen yards ahead.

Confirming her supposition, the monster savaged the deck behind them, gobbling up the seaweed fragments. Too loudly, Steven spoke up, “Connie, I-I’m new at this monster fighting business. I don’t know what to do and I’m scared and-”

Connie pressed a finger to his lips, then used a hand to wiggle one of her ears; Connie wasn’t sure how to do it hands-free the way Steven did. “You need help,” said a calmer Steven. Connie nodded.

 _Magical destiny powers, don’t fail me now,_ thought Connie as she focused on the intent that there **be** a force field at eye-height beside her. One popped into existence, about two foot square. Connie breathed a sigh of relief. Then she leaned forward, cupped her hands around her mouth, and breathed heavily on the field.

Brows furrowed, she began to draw.

“Us. You?” [ear wiggle], “Oh, you need my help?” [nod], “Okay. Me?” [shake head], “You! You are making... a boat?” [shake head], “a box?” [nod], “A box… with the worm in it? You’re going to trap the worm!” [nod], “But, can you do that? W-will you be okay?” [nose wiggle], “Right! I’m sure you do this all the time.”

Connie paused as though she were about to pantomime that, no, this was all pretty new for her, actually, when she shook her head at herself. She then erased the old doodle and fogged the force field anew.

[Ear wiggle], “You need me to-to go to a boat,” [point], “that boat and… look at the worm with a telescope?,” [shake head], “H-A-R-P-O-O-N. G-U-N. Harpoon gun? You want me to shoot it with that harpoon gun?!” [vigorous nod], “Can I do that? Don’t you need a license or something to operate one of those?”

Connie turned and stared directly into Steven’s eyes. His attention thus captured, she reached forward and wiggled his nose with her finger. “I’ll be okay,” he said quietly, translating the gesture. “I’ll be okay!” he said loudly in understanding. 

“Yeah!” [gentle push] “Oh right, I should go”, he said, motioning over his shoulder, “and do that whole ‘shooting the monster’ thing.” With that, he turned and jogged in the direction of the skiff.

Connie watched him go, settled her shoulders, turned to face the worm…

...and bopped her nose right into the field.

She turned, momentarily panicked, to confirm that Steven hadn’t seen that. Then she facepalmed, briefly. _Seriously?! A giant, aquatic blender is right there and I check if the boy saw me? What would Jasper think? Worse, what would Lisa think?!,_ a part of her scolded the rest.

Shaking her head, Connie knelt, withdrew the seaweed from her pocket, wedged a little of it between the planks so it wouldn’t blow away, then stood and jogged back another dozen yards. She erected four force fields around the lure, as large as she seemed capable of: one on top, one near her, and one on either side. This left only an opening for the monster and the dock below.

She wiped the sweat from her brow. _Whatever... this is..., it isn’t... easy,_ she observed, finding her thoughts sluggish. _Ugh. I-I feel… like I… just sat through… one-one of Peridot’s… CPH presentations_ , she added, going nearly cross-eyed.

There was a resounding ‘THUD!’ that caused Connie to jump, startled; she looked around confused at her momentary lapse. The worm was thrashing inside of the box, swallowing timber and seaweed both with abandon, its roar clearly audible through the gaps between the fields. 

_Now-now to close… the… trap!_ The fifth and final barrier winked into existence, pinning the worm in place. Connie flopped down, head spinning.

“Uh… hey Connie?”, called Steven. Connie turned her head and squinted in his direction, seeing him standing behind the bow-mounted harpoon gun of a nearby ship. “How am I supposed to shoot it when it’s inside a magic box?”

Connie groaned, face in her palm once more. _I KNOW this sort of thing never happened to Lisa. Not even in fanfiction. Not even in_ bad _fanfiction._

Crunch! Connie came to once more to see the worm’s tail disappearing through the now widened hole through the deck. _Oh, uh... can’t… think… w-where did it-_

“CONNIE, LOOK OUT!” shouted Steven as a shadow fell across Connie.

All else forgotten, Connie hurled herself forward in a clumsy tumble, and then was thrown further by the shuddering impact. Connie scrambled to her feet and, feeling heavy movement through the deck, sprinted ahead without looking back.

 _Drill One-Eleven: strategic retr- no, it’ll chomp Yellowtail’s boat, or Steven! Uh, Drill Zero-Twenty-Three: situationa-,_ and Connie felt rather than heard the roar just behind her. _Drill Connie-Alpha: RUUUN!_

Connie weaved slightly with the bobbing motion of the dock, leapt a hole in the decking, staggered slightly on landing, but recovered her balance. _Oh right, the hole it ate through the deck,_ a corner of her mind reported at the same time another piped in with, _Wait? What happened to the fields around the trap?!_

Connie’s frenzied dash brought her as close to land as was possible, perhaps fifteen feet over the beach and twenty feet away from solid land, while affording her a slight lead on the worm. 

_Okay. Strategy. Fighting decisively. Uh… think Connie! Think-Think-THINK! Steven is… there and will need line of sight. How do I slow that thing down? It’s, uh, big and I’m not. Brilliant insight, Maheswaran… Wait! Maybe I can do something with that. Eep! Too late, go now, go go go-go-go-go-aaaaaa-_

“Aaaaaah!”, Connie yelled, making a barely-controlled descent down the ruined structure, earning herself a stinging scratch across the exposed part of her right arm, and ripping the left knee of her overalls. She tumbled through the debris and sand, trying to keep herself in sight of Steven but under the overhang left by pier’s sundering. She stuffed her badly jostled glasses into her overall’s chest pocket.

The worm, hot on her heels, essentially belly-flopped over the side, landing heavily in the sand and debris before surging after its prey.

Connie stepped on something unexpected and her feet flew out from underneath her. The sand softened the landing but killed her momentum. She spun around and her eyes went wide as she saw the beast rearing back like a snake, mouth wide, preparing to strike.

The worm lunged, its roar deafening to Connie, and suddenly... she saw what looked like the world’s scariest aquarium exhibit, with a circular ring of teeth thrashing mere feet away against the field that interposed between them at a 45 degree angle. By the time the creature reared back once more, a spiderweb of cracks crisscrossed the barrier.

Connie scrambled backward on all fours. The beast lurched forward, hobbled slightly by the overhang but its bulk alone was sufficient to shatter the weakened field. 

Another field, another strike narrowly deflected, a few more feet lost.

Again.

And again.

Suddenly the sand under Connie’s right hand shifted, causing her arm to slip out from underneath her. Eyes wide in surprise, Connie was now flat on her back, the worm silhouetted against the sun overhead. Connie threw up a final force field, a scant inch or two above her and horizontal, as though it were the slide on a microscope and she were the specimen pinned beneath it.

The worm slammed into field, once, twice, cracks forming and widening with each blow. Connie screamed. The beast roared; in hunger, in rage, and then…

In pain.

About halfway down its length emerged a long steel bolt, the blade buried deep within the creature’s flesh. It thrashed for a second, bellowing far and wide its agony before being abruptly cut off.

A mud-colored cloud exploded out and for a moment there was only the sound of a gem thudding in the sand, the splash of a harpoon dropping into the water, and the distant rise and fall of Onion’s machete.

Connie, still under her battered yellow field, could only lay there, panting. _Ya know,_ that seemingly unflappable part of her observed, _I really should figure out how to get rid of these things on demand._

Steven’s sandaled feet thudded overhead, then Connie saw him clambering down to the beach. A moment later his enormous grin, tinted yellow, was visible despite the splintered view her field afforded her. 

“Oh-my-gosh-that-was-the-most-amazing-thing-the-boat-was-rocking-and-the-gun-kept-wobbling-but-I-tried-to-keep-it-steady-and-you-were-drawing-the-worm-right-into-my-shot-one-force-field-at-a-time-and-then-”

“Steven!” shouted Connie before wincing at the loudness of it within her enclosed space. “Ear wiggle. Ear wiggle!”

He blinked and turned his head to one side. Connie noticed he’d reinstalled his lost hearing aid. 

“Oh, right, help. Gotcha,” and he reached under, grabbed her ankles, pulling her slowly out and leaving furrows in the sand, then helped her to her feet. “Is your arm okay? Ooh, and your knee, too?” he asked, pointing to her scrapes.

She brushed sand off her clothes as best she could and put her glasses back on. “I’m so full of adrenaline right now, I can barely feel it. Anyway, mind if we maybe put some distance between us and that? I’m feeling awfully jittery being this close to what was minutes ago a giant mouth,” she said, pointing to the gemstone resting in sand.

They walked a few yards away, the bulk of the wreckage between them and the former monstrosity. 

“I keep telling you two, that was definitely a corrupted gem. Given the tenor and volume, I’d say a kunzite or a triphane,” called a nasally voice from the rise above. Connie and Steven both turned and looked up.

Jasper’s head and the tops of her shoulders were visible before Lapis and Peridot came into view and peered down.

“Given that color, Peridot, I doubt it was a triphane,” drawled Lapis.

“Wait? Connie?! Universe? What are you doing near that gem monster? Get away from there this instant, young lady. It could be dangerous!” squawked Peridot.

Connie slowly, deliberately removed her glasses and hung them from the neck of her overalls; Peridot’s eyes widened fractionally. “I know. I know really, really well… ma’am,” Connie deadpanned, extending an arm toward the rubble behind her.

Jasper leapt down and bubbled the gem while Lapis seemed to suddenly take note of the ruined anchorage. “Wait, did YOU poof that thing?”, the Blue gem asked, incredulity clear in her voice.

Steven called up, his voice exultant and his speech growing ever more rapid-fire, “Yeah, she did. I mean, I helped a little but she figured out that it wanted the red stuff and she was all calm and heroic while I freaked out and she fought-the-worm-with-her-superhero-powers-and-she-did-this-dodge-while-it-was-all-’RAWR’-and-and-” 

Steven paused to take a deep breath before yelling out, “SHE WAS INCREDIBLE!” 

Connie suddenly found herself unsure where to look or place her hands.

“D’awww!” said Lapis.  
“I still find this most irregular,” groused Peridot.  
Jasper sniffed… somehow.

The large warrior strode over to Connie, Steven backpedaling quickly when it looked like the Orange gem wasn’t going to bother going around him, then knelt down to her level.

“You okay, squirt?”

“Yeah. Just a few scrapes,” Connie replied.

Jasper stood. “Good work.”

She patted Connie’s head and then seemed to notice Steven for the first time. She gave a noncommittal grunt then turned to the other gems. “I’m going on patrol.” 

With that the Orange gem casually leapt the fifteen feet back up to the top of the rise, and strode out of sight.

Lapis flew down, landed lightly nearby, and pulled Connie into a hug. “Connie! Goodness, you and your little friend must have had quite the eventful day.” 

Then the Blue gem took a step back and punctuated each word with alternating pokes to Connie’s cheeks, “I’m. So. Proud. Of. You,” before leaning in and blowing a loud raspberry on the least-poked cheek.

“LA-APIS!” shrieked Connie while pushing the gem back, her face a picture of embarrassment. She glanced nervously in Steven’s direction.

Lapis laughed good-naturedly and turned to Steven as well. “Hi Connie-friend. I hope Miss Incredible here didn’t get you in too much trouble.”

Steven smiled up at her. “No trouble, uh, miss Lapis,” he said, fidgeting with his hair, “though the docks got messed up and I’m pretty sure I lost someone’s harpoon in the water.”

Lapis smiled, “Don’t sweat it, pinkie pie,” booping his nose at the end. 

Lapis’ eyes unfocused and she raised her right hand, palm up. There was a swirling of currents across the dockside area, then a blob of water rose and levitated over, a wide array of junk suspended within. Steven goggled at the spectacle, jaw dropped.

“Well, this is the only one in here, so I hope this is it,” said Lapis, reaching into the water and groping around before withdrawing the harpoon. She offered it to Steven, who blinked owlishly while accepting it.

“Don’t worry too much about those docks,” she said, suddenly somber, “Old things have a habit of falling to pieces; that doesn’t make it your fault. Or hers,” she finished, exchanging a weak smile with Connie.

Lapis broke her look with Connie, frowned slightly, then abruptly launched herself skyward and receded quickly from sight. A moment later Steven and Connie were splashed as the watery globe of salvage fell to earth.

“That’s just her style, isn’t it. Era-1 and practically a Diamond on this wet rock, and she’s got all the impulse control of a newly emerged Ruby,” grumbled Peridot, who must have helicoptered down while the pair were distracted.

“I expect a full debriefing when we get home, missy, and you should expect a full examination,” she said, arms crossed. 

She paused a moment, then added with a small smile, “Though I suspect I’ll be impressed and appalled in equal measure.”

“Yes ma’am. You probably will, ma’am,” said Connie, putting her glasses back in place and smiling.

“Good, now, field examination! You know the drill. Arms out, palms open. Tsk, minor abrasions to the right forearm and knees as well- hold it right there, Mister Universe. You’re next.”

Peridot inspected both the teen and near-teen. At the conclusion, the whine of a printer sounded followed by a small strip of paper emerging from one limb enhancer. Peridot plucked it up and handed it to Steven.

“Here are the results, with the Beach House communication code printed at the bottom in case your physician needs anything clarified. In summary: no major, disconcerting alleles, your physiology is within tolerable bounds, aural-defects notwithstanding, and you have an aesthetically pleasing cardiac rhythm… but you really should be flossing more,” she lectured a dumbstruck Steven.

She then turned to Connie. “We should return home. There is a gradual slope approximately point-eight kilometers east-by-south-east from here that you can ascend. Oh, and say goodbye to your compatriot, though don’t dawdle. I’m going to perform a quick survey of the area since apparently I’m the only one who still follows proper post-bubbling procedure these days,” she grumbled before helicoptering up and away.

Connie turned to Steven, hands gripping the straps of her overalls. “I should go, but, uh, it was a really nice day... overall. My number’s on the print-out so give me a call if you want to hang out again sometime,” and, before he could say anything in reply, Connie turned and jogged in the direction Peridot had indicated.

* * *

A few minutes later, Yellowtail waded up and grounded a rowboat on the beach, allowing Onion to hop down and sprint over to the debris Lapis had scattered across the sand. While his son fiddled with a mud-caked butterfly knife of dubious provenance, Yellowtail walked up to the stock-still Steven, still holding the harpoon and health screening results, and gave him a paternal pat on the back.

“Muh muh muh muhmuh muh muh muh muh, muhmuh-muh-muh?” he asked, one arm gesturing at the wrecked waterfront and the other slung over the boy’s shoulders.

Steven shook his head slowly, a smile creeping across his face. “I guess it really was. Do you think there’ll be many more like it?”, he asked, looking over at the friend of the family.

“Muh muh Muh Muhmuh. Muh muh muh muh muh muhmuh muhmuh muh… muhmuhmuhmuh muh muh muh muh muhmuh muhmuh,” he said, gave a one-shoulder shrug, then pointed in the direction Peridot had flown off.

“Should I stay away from them? I mean, it isn’t what I’d call ‘safe’ and I don’t want to worry mom and dad.”

Unnoticed, Onion rolled his eyes then began shaking out an old boot, drawing the ire of the crab inhabiting it.

“Muh muhmuh ‘muh muh muh, muh muh muh muh muh.”, he said, removing his arm from Steven’s shoulder so he could tousle Steven’s already unruly hair. Yellowtail then turned and looked Steven dead on and asked a question, "Muh muh muhmuh, muh muh muh muh muh muhmuh?"

Steven answered slowly, a thoughtful look on his face. “No... I don’t think I do, Uncle Yellowtail.”

Yellowtail gave a knowing grin and elbowed Steven playfully in the ribs. “Muhmuhmuhmuh muh muh muh muh muh, muh?”

Steven flushed a little and rubbed the back of his neck. “Heh, not really, no. Just, uh, don’t tell that to Connie, please.”

Yellowtail tapped the side of his nose and winked.

Onion, meanwhile, was using the boot to parry the slashes from the surprisingly tenacious and agile crab that had somehow swiped his butterfly knife.

Yellowtail pulled off his hat, held it in the palm of his hand, and began to gesture grandly. “Muhmuh muh muh muhmuhmuhmuh muh muh muh muh muhmuhmuhmuh. Muh muh muh muh, muh.” He finished by replacing the cap, gently taking the harpoon from Steven, and making a shooing motion with his free hand.

“I couldn’t have said it better myself,” Steven said with a laugh and began jogging down the beach.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wasn't that a fun episode? Well, the fun's not over! There will be an epilogue going up in the next couple of days for your further enjoyment. Then, next week, you can anticipate the first chapter of **Episode Four: Daddy's Little Girl**.  
> 
> 
> _Connie's excited: it's her thirteenth birthday and her dad is coming to visit! But does Doug know this new Connie, who has powers and stories and friends, or does he only remember the little girl she used to be?_
> 
> * * *
> 
> If you have a Connie Swap story burning in your soul that you want to see in our official, curated Omake collection, drop us a comment either in the Omake fic or here in the main fic and we'll get in touch.
> 
> We'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments and your asks at the [Connie Swap Tumblr](http://connieswap.tumblr.com/). Thanks for reading!


	5. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After you finish reading this chapter, there is a related omake story you might want to check out:  
> [Power Testing: Force Field](http://archiveofourown.org/works/10673391/chapters/25012344) by [br42](http://archiveofourown.org/users/br42/pseuds/br42) \- “Lapis, Jasper, Peridot, and Steven spend the day testing Connie's force field power, discovering both the limits of her new ability as well as the limits of her patience.” **This fic is 100% canon.**

Connie hummed a little tune as she played with Jasper’s thick mane. The warrior was seated in her usual spot at the end of the couch, but scooched forward to afford Connie standing room behind her. When the braid was complete, Connie straightened up and took a quick drink, then set the glass down on the small force field she’d summoned to serve as her mid-air coaster. 

She was just about to start in on braid number seven when the phone rang. It didn’t ring with a repurposed classical composition or a chipper song about unicorns chosen to convey irony, but with an actual, tiny clapper striking actual, tiny bells within the housing of an old rotary phone that Peridot had grafted a digital number pad on to.

Peridot looked up from Connie’s essay, set the red pen down beside her glass of TANG! on the coffee table, and got up from her preferred seat at the inside corner of the couch. “That’s the fourth time that device has gone off today. The cloddy thing must be malfunctioning. Hmm, where did I leave that spool of soldering wire?”

“No! It’s just Steven, ma’am. He said he’d call me after he finished dinner,” Connie hastily explained while clambering down from behind the large quartz.

As a little girl Connie had been unable to reach the phone, mounted as it was on the vertical support beam rising out of the kitchen counter. These days she had no such trouble, but Connie still chose to summon a field to step up on to.

“This is Connie speaking. Hi Steven! How was- Wait, how did you know?” she asked, glancing down at her ad hoc step stool.

Steven said something that caused Connie to giggle. She responded in a mock-serious tone, “No, it’s for training, Steven. Completely serious, Destiny Sandwich training.” A beat later the boy’s tinny laugh could be heard over the handset alongside Connie’s.

Jasper frowned. “Steven... Is that the one that delivers those food circles?” she asked while Connie gabbed in the background. 

_Strange, that’s the same face she makes when she’s trying to pick up something small with those huge fingers of hers,_ observed Peridot. “Negative. The person and foodstuff in question is named ‘Pizza’, a convenient overlap if I do say so myself.”

Lapis sat up in her spot at the window seat and flipped the manga she was reading facedown in her lap. “Naw, Steven’s the boy Con-con’s been hanging out with lately,” she explained. 

_Welp, Jasper still looks constipated. Gonna be one of those, eh?,_ Lapis inwardly snarked. “Wears a lot of pink. Bushy hair. Sandals. Really? Ya got nothin’, OJ?” Lapis asked, exasperated, before turning to Peridot with a pleading look. “Help me out here, Dot. Jasper’s being, well, Jasper again.”

“Steven is in the 80th percentile in terms of mass for his age and gender. He commonly wears a shirt depicting his patronym. He has ear enhancers to compensate for a defect that looks to have occurred during embryological or infantile development,” added Peridot.

Jasper blinked. “Is this the one that Connie used against the corrupted kunzite?”

“Yes!” Peridot and Lapis answered in unison.

Jasper looked about to speak when a half-full glass of blended apple, orange, and carrot juice fell, splashing bright orange across both a few couch cushions and Jasper’s black pants.

“Oh yeah! I completely forgot that the new Spirit Morph book is coming out soon!” said an enthusiastic, and oblivious, Connie. 

“I mean it’s based on a stage play that was written by someone else but the author’s endorsed it as cano-oooh!” and Connie landed in a surprised heap, legs splayed out, her back against the kitchen divider.

Connie plucked the handset from where it had landed on her head and brought back into position. “Sorry Ste- My field just- No, there’s no attacking- Steven! Nose wiggle!” 

There was a pause, after which the discussion seemed to calm down, and it was at which point Connie took notice of the scene in front of her. “No, I’m free then. Yup. Uh-huh. Okay, I should let you go. Yeah, rainbow stuff.”

Connie stood, said a quick ‘goodbye’, hung up the phone, then gave an apologetic smile to Jasper. “Sorry about that. I guess I forgot I’d left that up there. I still haven’t really figured this power out yet. I once sat in bed and timed a field for more than two hours before giving up and yet stuff like this,” she gestured to the mess, “happens and I have no idea why.”

Peridot adopted a conciliatory tone and addressed her pupil. “Firstly, there was no meaningful harm done. Lapis, if you would?”

“Sure thing, Dippin’ Dot!” piped the Blue gem, bouncing in her seat. The juice, as well as the TANG! in Peridot’s glass, levitated up and glooped together into an extremely orange, wobbly sphere.

“Heh, oops. Guess your space drink was a bit too close. Anyway, ooover and… down the sink it goes,” said Lapis, blowing her customary raspberry before brushing her hands to denote a job well done.

Peridot shrugged. “No matter, and thank you. Now, where were we? Oh yes, secondly, the duration of your mother’s hard light constructs was positively correlated with her ability to maintain focus on them. I suspect the same principle is at work here: you grew distracted while conversing with this Steven and the constructs lost cohesion.”

“Wait? Mom could do this too?! I knew she summoned a sword, I mean, you all have told me stories and there’s that mural in the burning room but… What else could she do?” Connie asked, hands at her chest.

The mood in the room grew suddenly chilly. Lapis looked to the others, as though for guidance. Peridot fidgeted with her floating fingers. Only Jasper remained impassive.

Once more Peridot spoke up. “We, uh, we can’t tell you,” she said, looking a little nervous. “However!, we are all fully prepared to assist you in mastering those powers you do discover,” she was quick to add, leaning forward and giving a smile that didn’t reach her eyes.

Connie looked at each of the gems in turn, disbelief written across her face. “But that doesn’t make any sense! I mean, Steven and I could have gotten seriously hurt the other day. And at the Spire?!”, Lapis and Peridot both winced, “That could have gone so differently if I’d known what I was doing. If I’d known what I was capable of!” railed Connie, gesturing widely to match her intensity.

“Not ‘can’t’, ‘won’t’,” corrected Jasper.

“But why?!” beseeched Connie.

“Citrine told us not to,” said the gem warrior as though that were a more than adequate response.

Connie made a strangled sound and sat stunned on the floor. Lapis was quick to walk over and kneel beside Connie, taking the girl’s hands into her own.

“Your mother, no, the Rebellion was about letting gems have the freedom to discover their own identity. You’re a gem too and your mother made us all promise not to… not to hold her legacy above your right to forge your own,” said Lapis, staring with sad eyes into Connie’s angry and confused ones.

Peridot cleared her throat, causing Connie to look up at her frequent caretaker and instructor. “There is another matter to consider in addition to the ethical concerns. It was observed that some gems… though not all,” she said, a touch bitterly, “were able to discover or invent new abilities when released from the strictures of Homeworld society. Furthermore, there has never been a human-gem hybrid such as yourself, so it is wholly unknown what powers you would have or to what degree they would overlap with those of Citrine’s.” 

Her expression softened further as she continued. “The fear that Citrine and I discussed during your, uh, gestation was that if we used her abilities as an example, you might become primed to follow it to the exclusion of any other natural developments.”

Peridot paused, as though to consider her words carefully. “Citrine wanted you to be Connie, not a... squishier Citrine. And, contrary to the baseless accusations of _others_ ,” Peridot said, pointedly not looking at Lapis’ grimace, “none of us here would have you be otherwise. I really do know how hard it can be in your position, but you’re making great strides. We’re all very proud of you and will do our utmost to help you where and how we’re able.”

Connie wiped tears from her eyes as she stood, then leaned awkwardly over the coffee table to pull Peridot into a hug.

“Ahhh, you two,” sang Lapis before coming in on Connie’s left and wrapping her arms around the pair.

Connie blindly reached out with her right hand, missing twice before grasping Jasper’s arm and pulling her into the group hug.

It was a good hug.

The phone rang out for the fifth time that day, but was abruptly silenced when a blast of green energy reduced it to slag.

“Wha-?” asked Connie from within the center of the embrace.

“I will build you a new one, dear. One that isn’t so impertinent,” answered Peridot.

“Yeah, no calls during hug-o-clock,” added Lapis.

Jasper held them fractionally tighter, her smile hidden and overlooked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There are just certain things we can't get away with having Connie as the magical protagonist, which we hope this epilogue has illustrated. Anyway, that wraps it up for Force Field Friends but next week you can anticipate the first chapter of **Episode Four: Daddy's Little Girl**.
> 
>  
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> 
> _Connie's excited: it's her thirteenth birthday and her dad is coming to visit! But does Doug know this new Connie, who has powers and stories and friends, or does he only remember the little girl she used to be?_
> 
> * * *
> 
> If you have a Connie Swap story burning in your soul that you want to see in our official, curated Omake collection, drop us a comment either in the Omake fic or here in the main fic and we'll get in touch.
> 
> As usual, we'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments and your asks at the [Connie Swap Tumblr](http://connieswap.tumblr.com/). Thanks for reading!


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